Rajasthan Royals’ 20-run win over Gujarat Titans in Ahmedabad on Saturday hinged on an 12-ball burst from Ravi Bishnoi. The leg-spinner finished with 4 for 41, claimed the Player-of-the-Match award, and, in the process, offered a neat reminder of what can happen when length, nerve and a touch of luck line up at once.
Titans appeared comfortable at 102 for 2 in the 11th over, B Sai Sudharsan well set and plenty of muscle still in the shed. Bishnoi’s first over had gone for nine. His second and third, however, removed Sudharsan, Glenn Phillips and Washington Sundar, each dismissal cutting a fresh thread from the chase. A final over wicket – Rahul Tewatia, top-edging a googly that stopped just short of a long hop – more or less settled the argument.
Afterwards Bishnoi was quick to link Saturday night to an off-season spent ironing out a very specific flaw. “Last season was difficult,” he admitted. “But I tried to stick to my processes. I had one weakness, if my length was wrong then I was getting hit for fours and sixes. That’s what I was trying. I played a whole season of domestics and worked on perfecting my lengths. Hitting my lengths made it difficult for batters, when I was too full I got hit today too. Mental, technical and physical… all three. I’ve been putting the physical work too, in off-season, between games and in domestic.”
Context helps. In 2023, while with Lucknow Super Giants, Bishnoi took 16 wickets and rarely missed his mark. Twelve months later the radar slipped: nine wickets in 11 outings, an economy rate nudging 11 an over, and eventually the franchise let him go. Rajasthan paid INR 7.20 crore at the December auction – a sizeable punt, although not out of sync with the going rate for an Indian wrist-spinner with white-ball pedigree.
Saturday offered early return on that investment. Three of Bishnoi’s four strikes were left-handers – the googly, spinning away from that angle, remains his most reliable weapon. For viewers less familiar with the jargon: a googly is the leg-spinner’s variation that turns the opposite way, towards the right-hander and away from the left-hander. It is more effective when bowled just short of a full length, which explains why Bishnoi keeps revisiting the tape measure.
Titans still required 31 from the last three overs when Tewatia fell – a gettable ask with wickets in hand. Bishnoi’s dismissal of the left-hander removed the proven finisher and left Rajasthan breathing easier. “My favourite wickets were all four but Rahul bhai’s [Tewatia’s] wicket towards the end was important since it came at that particular time,” Bishnoi said. “He is known to be a finisher. If he hadn’t gone out then the game could’ve gone any direction.”
Royals captain Sanju Samson praised the way Bishnoi “stuck to his strengths” (television interview), while former India spinner Pragyan Ojha, speaking on radio duty, felt the improved length was obvious: “He never chased the magic ball; he just landed it on that eight-metre spot again and again.”
It is only the first week of a long campaign, and Bishnoi knows lean spells can reappear without warning. For now, though, the work – physical, technical and, yes, mental – appears to be paying its way.
